1. No. "God of the gaps" is "I don't know, so MAGIC!" Whereas "chance" uses only natural laws. They only require time and a myriad of opportunities, both of which it can be shown to have.

2. Why not? (As an aside, this is the "god of the gaps" argument mentioned above: we don't know why the universe is here, so MAGIC!)

3. Short answer: myself. Long answer: moral tendencies in the species were established through evolution. On an individual level, morals are largely determined by the society, but, as each individual is unique, no one has the exact same moral code as another.

(Another aside: this guy claims that morality is objective, but gives absolutely no evidence to support this claim)

4. The same way any other mental tendency evolved: it granted a benefit to the members of the species which possessed it. A species which cooperates rather than competes is a stronger species.

5. Yes.

ETA: Also, welcome to TTAF!

"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest - and when I say thinking I mean thinking - you and I must do it." - A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

1. No. Have you ever watched a science program about something? The ending statements tend to be, "How this happened, still remains a mystery", or "There is still a lot we don't know". I follow the scientific community, as do most atheists here. In fact, we we use "chance" relatively little. We usually back up what happened with an explanation of how. Mostly chance only comes up when debating with a theist, or someone who opposes a scientific explanation. When we look ahead, the chance of any one given event happening tends to be pretty low. What is the chance my dog catches a bird today? Not much, but if yesterday my dog caught a bird, what is the chance my dog caught a bird yesterday? The event that happened is one of many that could of happened.

2. Would anyone laugh if I said chance? Evolution isn't random, but mutations are. It is just chance that we evolved better brains, rather than better muscles or the ability of flight. Any one mutation occurring is highly unlikely, but not as unlikely as no mutation occurring. When he said that the world is fine tuned for life, I want to bang my head against a rock. We are fine tuned for this world, the world is not fine tuned for us.

3. Sorry dude, it's all evolution. Just because Sky Daddy doesn't tell you what to do, doesn't mean that you can't tell yourself how to live.

4. My god.... he lacks a complete and utter understanding of morals and evolution. Dare I say, straw man? He claims that every single human being loves each other, while every single animals wants nothing more to kill each other? Animals have found safety in numbers. In order to better secure the survival of their community, and thus their selves, they gain a code of conduct. Wolves can work to0gether in packs to feed and defend themselves better than any lone wolf can. However, part of making sure they have enough food is killing off other wolves that threaten to take from their food source. It fits into evolution, well, not his explanation, but the real one.

5. I'm done with this. This guy has very little understanding of even basic atheistic ideas.

Two things, it seems that this guy pretty much just doesn't like the idea of no god. He can't figure out if there is no god, what is the point of life. Secondly, about chance, I didn't want to get into determinism. Too long and off topic.

(29-04-2010 06:40 PM)martinb59 Wrote: The title of the video was "5 questions Every Intelligent Atheist Must Answer"
The video is in question based on the title as "Intelligent Atheist" is an oxymoron.

Gotta love stereotypes.

I don't believe Jesus is the son of God until I see the long form birth certificate!

(29-04-2010 06:42 PM)ashley.hunt60 Wrote: 1. No. Have you ever watched a science program about something? The ending statements tend to be, "How this happened, still remains a mystery", or "There is still a lot we don't know". I follow the scientific community, as do most atheists here. In fact, we we use "chance" relatively little. We usually back up what happened with an explanation of how. Mostly chance only comes up when debating with a theist, or someone who opposes a scientific explanation. When we look ahead, the chance of any one given event happening tends to be pretty low. What is the chance my dog catches a bird today? Not much, but if yesterday my dog caught a bird, what is the chance my dog caught a bird yesterday? The event that happened is one of many that could of happened.

2. Would anyone laugh if I said chance? Evolution isn't random, but mutations are. It is just chance that we evolved better brains, rather than better muscles or the ability of flight. Any one mutation occurring is highly unlikely, but not as unlikely as no mutation occurring. When he said that the world is fine tuned for life, I want to bang my head against a rock. We are fine tuned for this world, the world is not fine tuned for us.

3. Sorry dude, it's all evolution. Just because Sky Daddy doesn't tell you what to do, doesn't mean that you can't tell yourself how to live.

4. My god.... he lacks a complete and utter understanding of morals and evolution. Dare I say, straw man? He claims that every single human being loves each other, while every single animals wants nothing more to kill each other? Animals have found safety in numbers. In order to better secure the survival of their community, and thus their selves, they gain a code of conduct. Wolves can work to0gether in packs to feed and defend themselves better than any lone wolf can. However, part of making sure they have enough food is killing off other wolves that threaten to take from their food source. It fits into evolution, well, not his explanation, but the real one.

5. I'm done with this. This guy has very little understanding of even basic atheistic ideas.

Two things, it seems that this guy pretty much just doesn't like the idea of no god. He can't figure out if there is no god, what is the point of life. Secondly, about chance, I didn't want to get into determinism. Too long and off topic.

"5. I'm done with this. This guy has very little understanding of even basic atheistic ideas."

Wow...I feel the same way about atheists!!!!

(29-04-2010 06:42 PM)ashley.hunt60 Wrote: 1. No. Have you ever watched a science program about something? The ending statements tend to be, "How this happened, still remains a mystery", or "There is still a lot we don't know". I follow the scientific community, as do most atheists here. In fact, we we use "chance" relatively little. We usually back up what happened with an explanation of how. Mostly chance only comes up when debating with a theist, or someone who opposes a scientific explanation. When we look ahead, the chance of any one given event happening tends to be pretty low. What is the chance my dog catches a bird today? Not much, but if yesterday my dog caught a bird, what is the chance my dog caught a bird yesterday? The event that happened is one of many that could of happened.

2. Would anyone laugh if I said chance? Evolution isn't random, but mutations are. It is just chance that we evolved better brains, rather than better muscles or the ability of flight. Any one mutation occurring is highly unlikely, but not as unlikely as no mutation occurring. When he said that the world is fine tuned for life, I want to bang my head against a rock. We are fine tuned for this world, the world is not fine tuned for us.

3. Sorry dude, it's all evolution. Just because Sky Daddy doesn't tell you what to do, doesn't mean that you can't tell yourself how to live.

4. My god.... he lacks a complete and utter understanding of morals and evolution. Dare I say, straw man? He claims that every single human being loves each other, while every single animals wants nothing more to kill each other? Animals have found safety in numbers. In order to better secure the survival of their community, and thus their selves, they gain a code of conduct. Wolves can work to0gether in packs to feed and defend themselves better than any lone wolf can. However, part of making sure they have enough food is killing off other wolves that threaten to take from their food source. It fits into evolution, well, not his explanation, but the real one.

5. I'm done with this. This guy has very little understanding of even basic atheistic ideas.

Two things, it seems that this guy pretty much just doesn't like the idea of no god. He can't figure out if there is no god, what is the point of life. Secondly, about chance, I didn't want to get into determinism. Too long and off topic.

(29-04-2010 06:40 PM)martinb59 Wrote: The title of the video was "5 questions Every Intelligent Atheist Must Answer"
The video is in question based on the title as "Intelligent Atheist" is an oxymoron.

Gotta love stereotypes.

Please...I couldn't resist look at all the cartoons on this site. I am entitled to one comment, I think.

Also, what the hell is darwinism?(Although I technically know what he is referring to, it still doesn't make any sense.)

2) Because there is. If there was nothing, then we wouldn't be here to talk about it.

3) I don't know, where do cultures that are isolated from the Christian faith get their morals from?

4) This is such a stupid argument. Do you even know anything about psychology? What happens when someone doesn't know the difference between what we would call right and wrong, are they suffering from poor contact with the divine?

1. Laughable. I won't repeat what has already been posted. Just because we don't know what the answers are doesn't mean we rely on chance. Besides, at least we continue to investigate what created these "chances", when people say "God did it" they tend to leave it at that and go no further. See: The Dark Ages.

2. HAHAHAHAHA! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

3. Morals are societal constructs. They aren't a necessity and they don't literally exist, they are codes ingrained by society. I don't steal because that's a dick thing to do, I don't kill because that's also a dick move. I grew up being told not to steal and that killing was bad, but if you grew up being told the opposite you'd have no problem with it. Morals are entirely constructed, there is no higher existence or whatever writing them down for us.

Fuck, I almost went into Rage mode watching this trash... This guy needs to read some books, study some science, and learn about what he is trying to combat. Every question he ask has tonnes of answers, some more complicated and widely accepted than others, but tonnes. What a tool... I can't even pretend to respect this type of stupidity.

Also when he says shit like "It's a good question" or "You have to consider this" I tend to respond with "No it's not, no I don't, fuck you."

#1 - You clearly do not understand the idea of evolution and should go do some real research.
#2 - Why should there be a /God/ instead of nothing? Science isn't afraid to say, "We don't know, but we're working on it!" Religion just says, "God did it and that's all I need to know." Who made god?
#3 - Morals are something we come up with as a rational way to deal with each other. You do not need a God to be compassionate. In fact, if your God is the only thing keeping you from being a horrible, amoral person, well, what does /that/ say about you, anyway? By the way, morality and natural selection are...not really related. Natural selection simply means that the individuals best adapted to their environments produce more offspring than others and eventually become the majority.
#4 - You're...kidding, right? Okay, if you really want to try and /stump us/ with that one, "morals" in this sense are what allow us to live in harmony as a social group. Any social animal species has a basic set of behaviors that ensure the group can function together as a unit without a whole lot of in-fighting.
That being said, we are what we are, and whether it is “programmed” or not, it just /feels good/ to do right. I have never been religious, I have always resented religion, but I have also always tried to be as good as I can, and to assume anyone who doesn’t believe in your god isn’t is ridiculous, and shame on you for furthering this absurd belief. You really want to know where atheists get their morals from?
Really? The answer would be the /same place you do./ From reason. Your reason is what allows you to pick which morals and ideals from the Bible make the most sense, but you do not /get/ your morals /from/ the bible (unless you are also pro-slavery, against women’s rights, and think it necessary to beat your children to keep them from being spoiled, of course, to name a few ridiculous “moral standards” from your holy book.)
#5 – And you’re saying it would be much more plausible that from nothing came an omnipotent, omniscient magical being who then created absolutely everything…imperfectly.
Oh, yes! How could I have missed such a detail? I will be converting right away! How could I have missed such an obvious detail!

--
New updated version for Christan folk

#1 - Lawdy, lawdy! I've been saved! I've seen the light! thank you! How could I have been so blind!
#2-5 - Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo​ooooooooooooooodd

The title of the video was "5 questions Every Intelligent Atheist Must Answer"
The video is in question based on the title as "Intelligent Atheist" is an oxymoron.

Why is it that insead of addressing the answers given here, you choose to resort, instead, to cheap name-calling? Are you so insecure about your religious views that you feel the strong urge to attack us atheists every time you can't come up with a rebuttal?

All learning is quite useless if you haven't learned to question what you learn.